The Match
by redisaid
Summary: Arcade dates are the best dates.


"You know, for a nerd, you're pretty terrible at video games."

Bubblegum glared at her. The combination of low light and the glow of hundreds of screens produced an almost eerie shine across her cheeks and crinkled nose, but it only served to make Marceline's grin wider.

"Pfft," she spat in her defense. "I hardly even have time to play them. I don't exactly have a thousand years of practice anyway."

"You don't need to practice when you have skills, princess," Marceline informed her, her pointed grin becoming noticeably smug as she waved her lithe fingers to emphasize her point.

Bubblegum's glowing glare somehow found a way to make itself darker. "Fine. I'm picking the next game then." She stormed off into the sea of machines and tinny sound.

The vampire couldn't help but cackle as she floated after her. "So what am I gonna get for beating you at this one? I mean, it's not like I can lose—unless you find Beaker Mixer 3000 or something—but I like to have some motivation to show off my talents."

The candy princess almost wanted to ask if Beaker Mixer 3000 was an actual game, but thought better of it. She flipped lightly on her heels, and began walking backwards through the row of machines as she offered her own challenge. "How about this? Since you're so confident that you'll win, why not give me some incentive instead?"

Marceline crossed her arms and tried to look serious, but her smile betrayed her. She was honestly beginning to find difficult to do anything but smile when she was around the pink girl. "You don't have a chance of getting it, so why not? What are you gonna get if you defeat the master?" she begged as her arms made a sweeping motion over her body with the last word.

Bubblegum's grin was almost sinister. Marceline would be lying if she said she didn't like it. "If I win, you're taking me to the museum for our next date. The science museum."

The queen's eyebrow arced just slightly before she erupted into laughter. "What? Really? That's the best you can think of? Hah! And for the record, the science museum is pretty neat. They have tons of dead bodies and creepy junk."

Bubblegum didn't exactly expect that reaction. Still, she did her best to stay sinister. "And you have to buy me lunch," she added clumsily, realizing that it didn't sound nearly as threatening as she wanted it to.

"And?"

"Uh—the rest is too awful to mention in public, so you'll just have to hope you win!" Bubblegum cried. She covered the blush that was growing on her cheeks with her own cackle, and even that was awkwardly loud and insane-sounding.

"Challenge accepted," Marceline answered You don't scare me, Bonni. You're trying really hard, and that's adorable, but it's just not working. Sorry."

Amidst the maze of machines, Bubblegum settles on the one that appears the simplest. It's the only chance she has. Instead of brightly painted designs or flashing lights, that particular cabinet's sides were decorated with nothing but wood paneling, its face in cracked mustard yellow paint. The controls were no complex jumble of sticks and buttons, just two simple dials. It almost looked like something out of her laboratory. She smiled in spite of herself. "This one," she said, pointing to the ancient game. Her hand tugged on the sleeve of Marceline's shirt, pulling her down from where she was floating above the tops of the machines.

Marceline startled, then tried to act as though she didn't. She'd never seen that cabinet before. She had no idea how it worked. She didn't know every combo, every trick and cheat, but she certainly wasn't going to let Bubblegum know that. "Bleh, this old thing? Way to pick the only thing in this place that's older than me. Does it even work?"

The princess went over to examine the simple cabinet. Its flickering screen was indeed on, though devoid of colors and fancy graphics. A dotted white line divided the screen. The players were nothing more than white rectangles, their objective a small white square. It took her a moment to process what it was meant to represent—tennis. She knew tennis. "I believe it's still functional," she reported.

Marceline shrugged and dug a coin out of her pocket. She handed it off to the princess. "Whatever. Prepare to meet your doom," she threatened coolly as she took her place before one of the dials.

They both struggled at first. Marceline spun her dial with abandon, causing her little white rectangle to bounce wildly up and down. Bubblegum was more cautious, perhaps a bit too cautious. Once they got the hang of it, the match was surprisingly even. The immortal's millennium of experience did nothing for her, and Bubblegum's lack thereof couldn't hinder at such a simple game. A crowd gathered silently around them as they shrieked out taunts as the scored, and let feral growls escape their lips when they gave up a point. It the end, the princess thought she'd lost. The little square came flying at her far too fast, but somehow she caught it. Marceline was too busy beginning to cheer for her victory to see that she was about to lose. The ball crossed into her court and fell past her edge of the screen, uncontested.

The candy monarch took her share of victory cries, but that wasn't what she enjoyed most of all. The shock on Marceline's face was priceless. It was honestly so hard to surprise a vampire, that she didn't get to see that face very often. She loved that face. She wanted to keep it forever, but not in a photograph—which wasn't possible anyway. She couldn't reach up and kiss a photograph and make it flush and giggle nervously into her lips.

"So when am I taking you to the museum?" Marceline asked as they made their way out of the arcade and into the summer night.

"I have some free time next week. I think. Maybe. I'll have to check with Peppermint. Actually, I changed my mind, but I'd still totally go to the museum if you felt like taking me sometime," Bubblegum hinted.

The vampire stopped in midair. "What? You can't change it now that you've won. That's no fair, Bonni!"

Bubblegum chuckled up at her. "Since when have you cared about fair, cheater? Besides, I think you'll like my other idea."

"Oh yeah? Are you gonna threaten me with a trip to the music store? Ooh! Maybe an awful date in a strawberry field! How horrible!" Marceline shouted dramatically, flipping upside down and covered her face with her arm.

"Mmmno, not exactly. I was thinking...we could, uh, go back to your place."

The only thing harder than surprising a thousand year old vampire who has seen and done and known everything there is to see and do and know is surprising that vampire twice in one night.


End file.
